A. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an optical crossbar switch that may be used in an optical network and, more particularly, to an optical crossbar switch that implements various characteristics of lasing semiconductor optical amplifiers in order to reduce the number of electrical components within the switch and enhance the conversion between optical and electrical signals within the switch. The lasing SOA may be used to build monolithically integrated digital optical circuit much in the same manner that electrical transistors are used to make monolithically integrated digital electronic circuits.
B. Background of the Invention
The proliferation of the Internet and corresponding high bandwidth network applications is well known. Within the networking software arena, there is a continuous demand on software developers to provide a higher quality product. In response, network software providers are spending large amounts of money in research and development to increase the quality and functionality of their software products that run on a network. However, this increase in quality and functionality places a demand on existing networks to provide sufficient bandwidth so these quality levels are maintained. For example, Internet software that allows for real-time delivery of multimedia files, webcasts, voice over IP, and interactive Internet video gaming have all recently appeared. These software applications have many advantages over older software versions including high-resolution imaging, dynamic user interaction and real-time rich content data streaming. These new software applications require a large amount of network bandwidth to function properly. As a result, service providers are constantly trying to improve the performance and increase the amount of available bandwidth on their networks.
Typically, service providers can increase a network's bandwidth using one of two methods. First, network bandwidth may be increased by physically expanding the network or by increasing the number of channels contained within the network. Second, network bandwidth may be increased by optimizing the utilization of the current network. Examples of how a network may be optimized include implementing load balancing techniques, richer protocols, or more efficient routing schemes. However, network utilization can only increase performance so much before a ceiling is hit at which the network utilization is maximized. Comparatively, physically increasing or building out a network usually is only limited to the actual physical expansion of the network (i.e. increase in fiber, switches, etc.) or the number of new channels placed within the network. For example, recent advancements in DWDM have allowed service providers to drastically increase the number of channels that may be implemented within an optical network.
Service providers may also increase bandwidth by increasing the rate at which data travels across the network. Typically, this rate is calculated from insertion of data into the network to arrival of the data at a corresponding destination. As a result, this rate is an average speed from network input to output.
Generally, the time constraints of routing data within a network switch account for the majority of time required for data to travel across a network. Data is typically switched within an optical network by converting the data from an optical signal to an electrical signal, storing the data electrically within the switch, processing routing data contained in the data signal, and finally retrieving and routing the stored data according to the processed routing data. The time required to perform these electrical processes greatly reduces the rate at which data travels across a network, thereby decreasing the network bandwidth. As a result, there is a significant interest in a completely optical network switch or, in the alternative, ways in which the electrical components within the switch can be reduced. Decreasing the delay caused by electrical network components increases the speed at which the data will travel across the network resulting in an increase in bandwidth available on a network. Thus, there is a need to provide an optical switching fabric containing a reduced number of electrical components. This reduction will likely increase the speed of the optical switching fabric and lower the cost due to the decrease in actual components.